NEW LOOK GUARDIAN 4

Here's the latest comment on the new face of the Trinidad Guardian.

"Martine,

"Sorry to bombard you with postings but I'm just finding some time to catch up on past blog posts. A few thoughts on the relaunched Guardian:

"A few people have compared the relaunched Trinidad Guardian with the U.K. Guardian, saying the T&T version looks a bit like the U.K. version. I disagree. The U.K. Guardian is an elegantly designed newspaper that's routinely cited as one of the best-designed papers in the world. See this year's winners of the Society of News Design's World's Best-Designed Newspaper award. The U.K. Guardian is also a very well-written, edited and illustrated newspaper, as anyone who has read it knows.

"It's sheer flattery to even suggest that the T&T Guardian is in the same league as the U.K. Guardian. In fact, I would say that the T&T Guardian has degenerated to a run-of-the-mill tabloid -- a far fall for a paper with the Guardian's history. Anyone remember when the Guardian used to have stories on its front page? Look at it over the past few years. It's front pages are barely distinguishable from those of its competitors: big, sensational (and often misleading) headlines, boring visuals. In fact, cover the mastheads of the three dailies and your can barely tell which is which. They're all going (gone?) down the gutter.

"Adding more colour is good - not the least for advertisers. But it won't hide sloppy reporting and uninspired visuals. Guardian of Democracy? Umm, I don't think so."

"Mike"